Mídias: sociabilidades, práticas e significações

Mídia: sociabilidades, práticas e significações apresenta leituras interculturais e transdisciplinares do atual estágio das inferências intelectuais que alimentam as pesquisas no Grupo de Pesquisas GEMINI – Grupo de Estudos de Mídia – Análises e Pesquisas em Cultura. Os autores trazem suas contribuições para a compreensão das diferentes narrativas que se ancoram na realidade e criam novos sentidos sobre mídia e sociedade. Os artigos, organizados em três núcleos temáticos, abordam vestígios sobre variados temas e se articulam na ordem do discurso e das práticas que compõem a midiatização social

Decepa de plantas jovens de eucalipto e manejo de brotações, em um sistema agroflorestal

This study aimed to evaluate juvenile eucalypt clone plant coppicing, in order to obtain small diameter logs, in the first rotation, which facilitates harvesting by small farmers; or to recover damaged young stands and to produce biomass for energy in short rotations. The experiment was carried out in an agroforestry system with 9.5x4 m spacing. Intact plant growth was compared to sprout growth from coppicing at nine and twelve months after planting. At six or nine months after coppicing, sprout thinning was carried out to leave two or three sprouts per stump. When thinning was done after 12 months of coppicing, all dominant sprouts were left. A treatment without thinning was also evaluated. Forty-two months after planting, treatment without thinning showed about the same amount of sprouts per stump as those thinned to three sprouts per stump. The estimated asymptotic value for sprout diameter was 69% of that for intact plants. The asymptotic value for sprout production, for most treatments of plants coppiced nine months after planting, was similar to that obtained for intact plants, which indicates that coppicing young eucalypt plants, without sprout thinning, can be used in agroforestry systems.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o uso de decepa de plantas jovens de eucalipto, para produção de árvores de menor diâmetro, com colheita facilitada por pequenos produtores; ou para recuperação de povoamentos jovens severamente danificados e produção de biomassa para energia em ciclos curtos. O experimento foi conduzido em sistema agroflorestal, com espaçamento entre plantas de 9,5x4 m. O crescimento de plantas intactas foi comparado ao de brotações de decepas realizadas aos nove ou doze meses após plantio. Aos seis ou nove meses após a decepa, realizou-se a desbrota, para deixar dois ou três brotos por cepa. Quando a desbrota foi realizada aos 12 meses após a decepa, todos os brotos dominantes foram deixados. Um tratamento sem desbrota também foi avaliado. Aos 42 meses após plantio, o tratamento sem desbrota apresentou o mesmo número de brotos por cepa que o de plantas desbrotadas para três brotos. O diâmetro das brotações foi equivalente a 69% do valor estimado para as plantas intactas. O valor assintótico de produção das brotações, da maioria dos tratamentos de decepa aos nove meses, foi igual ao das plantas intactas, o que evidencia a viabilidade da decepa sem a realização da desbrota, em sistemas agroflorestais

Ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide-1 according to body adiposity and glucose homeostasis

ABSTRACT Objective: We investigated the biological behavior of ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) after a standard liquid meal according to body adiposity and glucose homeostasis. Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study included 41 individuals (92.7% women; aged 38.3 ± 7.8 years; BMI 32.2 ± 5.5 kg/m²) allocated into three groups according to body adiposity and glucose homeostasis, as follows: normoglycemic eutrophic controls (CON, n = 11), normoglycemic with obesity (NOB, n = 15), and dysglycemic with obesity (DOB, n = 15). They were tested at fasting and 30 and 60 min after the ingestion of a standard liquid meal in which we measured active ghrelin, active GLP-1, insulin, and plasma glucose levels. Results: As expected, DOB exhibited the worst metabolic status (glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, HbA1c) and an inflammatory status (TNF-α) at fasting, besides a more significant increase in glucose than postprandial NOB (p ≤ 0.05). At fasting, no differences between groups were detected in lipid profile, ghrelin, and GLP-1 (p ≥ 0.06). After the standard meal, all groups exhibited a reduction in ghrelin levels between fasting vs. 60 min (p ≤ 0.02). Additionally, we noticed that GLP-1 and insulin increased equally in all groups after the standard meal (fasting vs. 30 and 60 min). Although glucose levels increased in all groups after meal intake, these changes were significantly more significant in DOB vs. CON and NOB at 30 and 60 min post-meal (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: Time course of ghrelin and GLP-1 levels during the postprandial period was not influenced by body adiposity or glucose homeostasis. Similar behaviors occurred in controls and patients with obesity, independently of glucose homeostasis

Tuberculoid leprosy: An in vivo microvascular evaluation of cutaneous lesions.

Tuberculoid leprosy (TT) is characterized by cutaneous lesions called plaques. Although microvascular ultrastructure of TT patients' skin is well-documented, little is known about functional aspects of their microcirculation. We aimed, for the first time, to evaluate, in vivo, the microcirculation of TT cutaneous lesions. Seven TT patients, males, under treatment were included in the study. The spectral analysis of frequency components of flowmotion (endothelial, sympathetic, myogenic, cardiac and respiratory) was performed using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Endothelial dependent and independent vasodilatations were assessed by LDF associated to acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) iontophoresis, respectively. Vessel density (VD), perfused vessel density (PVD), proportion of perfused vessels (PPV%), microvascular flow index (MFI) and flow heterogeneity index (FHI), reflecting tissue perfusion and oxygenation, were evaluated through sidestream dark field (SDF) imaging. All microvascular analysis were performed in TT lesions and in healthy skin in the contralateral limb of the same patient, used as control skin. VD, PVD and PPV% and MFI were significantly lower in the cutaneous lesion compared to contralateral healthy skin. The contribution of different frequency components of flowmotion, endothelial dependent and independent vasodilatations and FHI were not statistically different between control skin and cutaneous lesion. Our results suggest that TT cutaneous lesions have a significant impairment of tissue perfusion, which may aggravate peripheral nerve degeneration caused by Mycobacterium leprae infection

Microvascular Function, Inflammatory Status, and Oxidative Stress in Post-Bariatric Patients with Weight Regain

Weight loss after bariatric surgery in obesity improves vascular function and metabolic/inflammatory profiles and reduces cardiovascular mortality but there are limited data on the effects of weight regain on vascular health. We compared the metabolic/inflammatory profiles, oxidative status, and vascular function of post-bariatric patients with a high ratio of weight regain (RWR) vs. non-surgical controls. Thirty-two post-bariatric patients [Roux-en-Y gastric bypass; aged = 44 ± 8 years, BMI = 40.1 ± 7.7 kg/m2, and RWR = 58.7 ± 24.3%] and thirty controls that were BMI-, age-, and gender-matched entered the study. We collected clinical data, metabolic/inflammatory/oxidative stress circulating biomarkers, and endothelial/microvascular reactivity through Venous occlusion plethysmography and Laser speckle contrast imaging. The bariatric group exhibited lower neck circumference, fasting glucose, and triglycerides than the non-surgical group, while HDL-cholesterol was higher in the bariatric group (p p ≥ 0.06). Resistin, leptin, endothelin-1, soluble forms of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances did not differ significantly between groups (p ≥ 0.09) either. The adiponectin level was higher in the bariatric compared to the non-surgical group, while interleukin-6 was lower in the bariatric group (p < 0.001). Despite the fact that endothelial/microvascular functions were not significantly different between groups, post-bariatric patients present partially preserved metabolic/inflammatory benefits even with high RWR